“The Devil’s hands have been busy…” - 'Terminator Salvation' Review

Posted on June 3, 2009 - 12:57pm by michael For all of the bad press that Terminator Salvation has been getting, there is at least the fact that after the goofy T3 it had nowhere to go but up. There have been a lot of complaints that the movie was nothing but action set pieces, special effects, chases and explosions, and that the story and characterization are left in the post-apocalyptic dust. In other words, it’s a Terminator movie, right? Did anyone really go into this thing looking for Oscar-bait performances? We’ve all been dreaming of another T2 for nearly 20 years now, but by this point my biggest hope was that Christian Bale would save the beleaguered franchise from the goofy obscurity to which it was headed the way he did for the Batman series, and I think he did it. He gives a subdued and thoroughly emotionless performance as the grown up John Connor and a lot of people have complained about that, but what else should he have done? A bigger question is McG, who is not only responsible for little more than all the glory of the Charlie’s Angels movies, but has also reduced his full name, Joseph McGinty Nichol, to the first three letters of his middle name. Maybe he wants to be known as the only guy in Hollywood whose name is just a handful of letters with no vowels.  Or maybe he hates his family. At any rate, it’s obvious he’s in over his head here, but as is the case with summer blockbusters these days, the entertainment value is through the roof even if it’s not exactly an educational experience. Obviously, at this point in the series, the biggest hurdle that the movie needs to overcome is to have enough story to justify its existence, and while the story of this installment is going to feel pretty drowned out by the relentless explosions and action sequences, it’s there even though you have to keep remembering to look for it. A man named Marcus Wright is sentenced to death but donates his body to the research of a SkyNet scientist (Helena Bonham Carter) who offers him a chance to right the wrongs he’s done.  The execution is carried out and when he wakes up he has been turned into the movie’s big addition to the Terminator franchise – a Terminator who doesn’t know he’s a Terminator that’s programmed with a mission to bring John Connor to SkyNet central to be killed. This situation leads to really the movie’s only opportunity for real acting, as Marcus, who thinks he is as human as anyone else in the Resistance, comes to realize what has happened to him. He runs into a young Kyle Reese, an inexperienced but dedicated soldier holding out against the machines in war ravaged Los Angeles. Reese is performed nicely by Russian actor Anton Yelchin, although not a scrap of effort was made to find someone who looked remotely like Michael Biehn. We also have the resident asian hottie Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood, who has more o’s in her name than anyone else in Hollywood), and John Connor’s conspicuously clean and well-dressed wife Kate. She has a minimal role in the movie but Bryce Dallas Howard made out like a bandit in getting this part, since she’s pregnant with Terminator 5. [caption id="attachment_38095" align="alignright" width="403" caption="The future of L.A. gangs..."][/caption] The other requirement that new Terminator movies have to fulfill is that they have to have cool new machines, and while this one does have cool new machines, it also overshoots a little, as is generally the case with any effects films that come out these days. It is a sad bit of irony about the future of movies that advances in special effects see to serve mostly to call attention to themselves. It also doesn’t help that the skyscraping machines in this movie look exactly like something out of Transformers, because if I remember correctly, Transformers kind of sucked. But when it all comes down to it, Terminator Salvation aims to tell the next stage in the developing Terminator story, and while you can find a lot to complain about among the acting and effects, it does make a good contribution to the series as a whole and it does leave you wanting to know more, despite a definite feeling of abruptness at the end. It is a bit of an amazing feat that the movie avoids becoming cheesy or ridiculous, even during the ham-handed (but appreciated) placement of the Alice in Chains song ‘Rooster’ (“Ain’t found a way to kill me yet…”), the even more appreciated revival of the Guns N’ Roses song ‘You Could Be Mine,” which you’ll remember from T2, and my favorite, scenes late in the movie that, provided you’re up to date on your 80’s man-vs-machine movies, will have you gleefully calling out “No disassemble! NO!” [caption id="attachment_38097" align="alignleft" width="387" caption="Thank you! Come again!"][/caption] The Terminator story is getting more and more complicated, and with each new complication comes more story possibilities. I think they’re doing a good job of keeping the stories interesting, and I appreciate that the new movie has avoided most of the vast number of cheese pitfalls available to it. Consider, for example, the entire first scene of T3, where Arnold comes out of the gay bar wearing purple glittery star sunglasses, and you’ll know what I mean. T4 takes itself seriously but still aims to be a thrilling action sci fi movie. It’s clear now that there is no end in sight for the series, but I say if they’re making movies this good, keep ‘em coming. [caption id="attachment_38102" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="4 Beans out of 5."][/caption]